A teacher by profession, but is now in his 38th year as a football writer. Has written for "Soccer Action" (Melbourne), "Australian Soccer Weekly" (Sydney) and "World Soccer" (London), as well as for several Tasmanian newspapers. Currently contributing to "Goal!Weekly" in Melbourne and the Australian magazine "Soccer International". Played for Croatia-Glenorchy, Caledonians, Metro, Rapid and University in Tasmania, as well as in the United States of America. Coached University, Metro and Croatia-Glenorchy.

South Hobart had skipper Hugh Ludford sent off soon after the resumption, but it mattered little as Brennan completed his hat-trick with two minutes remaining and substitute Darcy Hall struck a fourth in stoppage time.

Fourth-ranked Northern Rangers put a spell of poor form behind them and walloped sixth-placed Kingborough Lions United 8-0 away at Lightwood Park.

The Lions had no answer to Shane Brassington and Aiden Rigby, who scored four goals and a hat-trick, respectively.

Brassington headed home the opener from Yitay Towns’s left-wing cross after a mere two minutes, while in the 6th minute he ran onto an excellent through-ball from Towns, only to see his shot come back off a post.

On the quarter-hour, Rigby squandered a gilt-edged chance from close range, but he atoned in the 18th minute by heading home a Brassington chip to make it 2-0.

Two minutes later, Rigby made it 3-0 when he slotted home a low shot while at full stretch.

It was 4-0 in the 25th minute when Roan Gillam parried a stinging shot from the left by Tenzing Anderson and Brassington fired home the loose ball from an acute angle on the right.

Gillam was replaced because of injury in the 33rd minute and one of the first things substitute keeper Adam Coleman had to do was pick the ball out of the net two minutes later as Brassington curled home Rangers’ fifth following a defence-splitting pass by Todd Hingston.

The Lions replaced Fionn Collins with Jal David at the interval, but they fell further behind seven minutes after the resumption when Coleman fumbled the ball after a free-kick and central defender Ryan McCarragher prodded home from close range.

The Lions had had a few half-chances, but were largely toothless when it mattered. Tom Young squandered a good chance in the 66th minute when he fired tamely and straight at keeper Marshall Pooley.

Coleman did well to deny Rigby in the 72nd minute after the latter collected a pass from Patrick Lanau-Atkinson and cut inside before shooting.

Rigby completed his hat-trick in the 79th minute after a free-kick fell to him and he powered a shot past Coleman, making it 7-0.

With seven minutes remaining, Michael McKenna replaced Pooley in the Rangers goal in order to give McKenna some game time.

With a minute remaining, a superb disguised pass by Patrick Lanau-Atkinson, who looked left and shaped up to pass in that direction, thus wrong-footing the Lions defenders before passing to the right, enabled Brassington to score Rangers’ eighth.

At KGV Park on Saturday, before a sparse crowd, third-placed Tilford Zebras took 23 minutes to open their account against sister club Launceston City. They added three more before the interval and then piled on a further eight goals in the second half, six of those coming in the final 10 minutes as City were effectively reduced to the role of witches hats.

Ethan Engels broke the ice midway through the first half, heading home Alex Leszczynski’s cross from the right. Five minutes later, Adam McKeown beat City’s fly-in keeper from Melbourne, Nicholas Abougelis, with a low drive from the edge of the box.

Two minutes before the break, McKeown stopped to head his second from Curran Ferns’s right-wing delivery to make it 3-0.

Leszczynski converted a penalty in stoppage time at the end of the first half and Zebras went in at the break with a commanding 4-0 advantage.

A cut-back from the byline on the left in the 50th minute by Ben Whitehall - although he appeared to push fullback Luke Keddie out of the way as he did so - provided Leszczynski with an easy second and Zebras’ fifth.

A poor goalkick in the 58th minute enabled McKeown to gain possession on the left and he advanced on goal before scoring inside the near post to make it 6-0 and complete his hat-trick.

City were lucky in the 74th minute when Leszczynski’s shot rebounded off the far post and into the welcoming arms of a relieved Abougelis, but the respite was brief, McKeown nodding home substitute Nicholas MacDonald’s corner from the right in the 81st minute to take the score to 7-0 and giving him a personal tally of four for the match.

That was the signal for Zebras to unleash blitzkrieg on their hapless visitors. Ferns made it 8-0 in the 83rd minute with a shot from the inside-right position, while MacDonald added the ninth two minutes later when Abougelis was unable to hold Leszczynski’s shot.

A delicate chip into the penalty area by Josh Fielding in the 87th minute enabled Henry Fagg to glance a header into the net for goal number 10, but if City thought it was over, they were mistaken.

Ethan Engels raced through on his own in the 89th minute to score an easy eleventh, while a quickly-taken free-kick by centre-back Russell Courtney two minutes into stoppage time caught City out completely and that was a dozen for the record book.

Olympia Warriors, in second place, displayed excellent composure and pressing tactics to dispose of second-last Glenorchy Knights 5-0 at home at Warrior Park on Saturday evening.

The Knights, missing midfielder Callan Griffin, wouldn’t give Olympia the ball in the opening minutes, but they quickly ran out of steam and ground to a halt in the freezing conditions.

In the 9th minute, Shae Hickey lost possession in midfield and, before Knights knew what was happening, Lachlan Nichols had put Olympia in front.

Eduardo Cabello added a second in the 37th minute, his low shot from range going in off the base of the left-hand post.

Photo:Glenorchy Knights' Dae Young Choi goes on a run pursued by Olympia opponents [PlessPix]

Knights were always under pressure and their clearances often went straight to the opposing side, while Nichols and Nicholas Mearns were virtually given free rein in midfield.

Emmanuel Tsakiris walked home Olympia’s third in the 69th minute after he waltzed around keeper Alex Woodham and eluded the attentions of Tyler Harrison on the left of the box.

Tsakiris swept home his second and Olympia’s fourth in the 73rd minute from substitute Warren Wadawu’s low cross from the right.

Wadawu completed the scoring by grabbing Olympia’s fifth 9 minutes from the end when he showed a clean pair of heels to Paul Willcock and substitute Daniel Holmes during a run down the right, finishing with a low shot inside the far left-hand post.

Photo:Olympia's Nicholas Mearns (right) tries to get to the Knights' Dae Young Choi [PlessPix]

People at City are having a laugh, the keeper, the Irish midfielder, the Chinese lad all an absolute waste of time. Wouldn't bother bringing the Irish lad back what that team needs is a leader not a fancy nancy. Do they love wasting money? Not improved in years been going on about how good their kids are well no one has stood out. If your a decent player at 16 or 17 then it's seen even in bad teams, but sorry they have no one. Sit back and strap in for the next ten years as the new Launceston United. Or change the people making decisions.